


Unforgettable

by FestiveFerret



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Amnesia, Confessions, First Kiss, Flirting, Get Together, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Multi, Recovery, Secrets, past-Tony/Sunset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26631850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret
Summary: Tony stared at the white, popcorn ceiling above him and tried to figure out what the fuck was going on. It wasn't his bedroom. It wasn't Sunset's bedroom. He must have just woken up because his body still had the heavy, weighted feeling of sleep, but he couldn't remember going to bed last night, nor could he quite remember actually waking up.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 20
Kudos: 355
Collections: Stuckony Summer Stocking 2020





	Unforgettable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asphxdels](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asphxdels/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [asphxdels](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asphxdels/pseuds/asphxdels) in the [stuckony_summer_stocking_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stuckony_summer_stocking_2020) collection. 



> This is for the "Tony gets amnesia and stucky nurses him back to health" prompt!

Tony stared at the white, popcorn ceiling above him and tried to figure out what the fuck was going on. It wasn't his bedroom. It wasn't Sunset's bedroom. He must have just woken up because his body still had the heavy, weighted feeling of sleep, but he couldn't remember going to bed last night, nor could he quite remember actually waking up. 

Had he been drinking? He wasn't sure. Everything was a bit hazy.

Some of his muscles got with the program and he twitched one hand. Pain rocketed up his arm to his shoulder, and he groaned, mouth dry and throat scratchy. He tried to reach for his hurting arm with his other hand, but he couldn't move it. Not being able to move shot a hard rush of fear-laced adrenaline through his veins and struggled against the panic. 

Drugged. He'd been drugged.

_ "Nuh -" _ he managed, trying to force his tongue to form a scream, but it couldn't. 

Two strong hands landed on his shoulders and Bucky's eyes appeared in his fuzzy vision, blocking out the white ceiling. "Shh. Tony. You're okay. Just relax."

Tony stilled, still panicking but trying not to fight Bucky's hold. 

Another hand landed on his other wrist, thumb petting a soft line over his aching skin, soothing some of the burn. "You're safe, Tony." That was Steve's voice. "You're in the hospital."

Oh. Well that explained a lot. Tony closed his eyes and tried to breathe through a sudden wave of nausea and vertigo that made him feel like he was stumbling to the floor even though he was still in bed. "What-?" he tried. It came out husky and mangled, but Steve seemed to get it.

"A fight went bad. Everyone else is okay. You were hurt worst of all, but you're going to be okay. It's just going to take a little time to get back on your feet."

"No permanent damage," Bucky added. 

"Where's Sunset?" Tony managed to mutter out, but even just the question was exhausting, and only a few breaths later, before he could get an answer, he was asleep again.

**

The next time Tony woke, it was dark outside and he was alone. He felt lighter this time, less confused, less dry. There were wrappers and packages scattered around him and a half-empty cup of water with a straw which suggested this  _ wasn't  _ actually the next time he'd woken up, he just had no memory of the other times. 

Everything was a little easier this time, and he was able to push himself up in bed a tiny bit and take stock of himself.

He still had four limbs, which was good, but his left ankle was wrapped in a cast, and his left arm was decorated with bandages and hurt every time he even thought about moving it. 

He was testing all his fingers and toes when the door opened and Bucky slipped inside. His gaze alighted on Tony's open eyes and he stilled for a moment, then hustled over. "Hey, sw- Tony. You okay?" His voice was soft and low, and Tony wondered how late it was. It felt so late it was early. 

"Not sure yet. Still taking stock." 

Bucky sat in the chair by the bed and gave Tony a gentle tap on his right thigh, one of the few places that didn't ache. "Promise you, doc says it's all okay. Just aches and pains now. Plus the ankle. And the knock to your head is going to make you feel pretty crummy for a while."

"Okay. Thanks." Tony shifted on the bed, letting his eyes fall shut for a moment. He opened them again and fixed them on the empty chair on the other side of his bed. "Where's Sunset?"

The door opened but it wasn't Tony's girlfriend that stepped in, it was Bucky's boyfriend.

Steve brightened when he saw Tony. "You're awake!" Steve filled the other chair. 

Bucky shot him a look. "Uh. Tony asked why Sunset wasn't here."

Steve's smile vanished. "Oh." Steve looked pained for a moment. "Tony… you hit your head pretty hard in the crash. The doctors warned us that you might have some problems with your memory because of it. There might be things you don't remember and it might be hard for you to form new memories for a while. They think it'll probably be temporary, but I imagine things might be pretty confusing for a while."

Bucky frowned at Tony's wince. "They told us it was probably best not to push you too hard to remember things, not to remind you too often of things you'd forgotten, that most likely your memories would come back on their own, especially once we get you back in your normal environment. There's no use upsetting you by reminding you of all the things that have changed. but there's some things you kind of need to know because they  _ have  _ changed."

Steve cleared his throat. "Tony... You and Sunset broke up. that's why she's not here. You broke up about six months ago, and... It wasn't a very nice break up. If you remembered, I'm sure you wouldn't want her to be here so we didn't invite her. If it would make you feel better though... " 

Tony shook his head. "No -I." He tried to find the memory of it, but he couldn't. Everything of Sunset was kind of fuzzy, like it had been a while ago, but he couldn't really put dates on anything. He felt like he ought to be surprised, or upset, but he wasn't, not really. If anything, something in him released. "I left?" he tried."And she doesn't… bother me?"

The super soldiers shared another look, one full of concern. Bucky's eyes were dark when he looked back at Tony. "No." His jaw tensed. "She doesn't."

"Oh. Okay." It was too hard trying to figure out how things fit together so Tony sunk back into his pillows and closed his eyes. With Steve and Bucky guarding him like a pair of jacked-up Great Danes, he felt safe enough to just accept that everything was kind of fucked up right now and it'd be a while until it made sense again. 

**

"Red or green?" Bucky asked.

"You know, there's something distinctly off-putting about watching the Winter Soldier make jello."

Bucky gave him a deadpan stare. "Well, I'm told jello is vital for the recovery process."

Tony smiled. "Still dunno why you two took it upon yourselves to nurse me back to health."

Steve chose that moment to wander in. "Because someone had to counteract the opposite effect you'd have on yourself." He shared a pointed glance with Bucky. 

Tony tried not to roll his eyes. The pointed glances were getting old. "Well, I still argue that it's not the same without the little nurse outfits."

Bucky dropped a bowl of red jello in front of him and folded his arms. "Be good and eat your jello and the outfits might be negotiable." Bucky winked, and Tony paused, the spoon halfway to his mouth.

"Stop teasing, Buck," Steve chastised as he walked by, bumping Bucky's shoulder with his own. 

It was beginning to become clear that if the broken ankle, concussion, and bruised ribs weren't enough to kill Tony, the post-trauma nursing might be. "Yeah, Bucky, don't be mean to the invalid," Tony shot back, maybe a moment too late.

Bucky just raised a saucy eyebrow at him and turned back to the kitchen. Steve joined him a moment later, one finger hooking through his belt loop, but their voices were too low for Tony to make out. 

He knew there was something he wasn't remembering, and it was driving him crazy. It was clear they were sharing these pointed looks, edged with an indulgent kind of sadness that made him too afraid to ask what it was they weren't saying. Had someone died in the last few months he'd lost? Pepper, Rhodey, Happy - they were all okay, the team was okay. Sunset was apparently fine - Tony had checked her social media one of the few times staring at a screen didn't make his eyes start crawling out of his head - but he couldn't really bring himself to mind much that she wasn't around. 

"Bored," he whined, just to be petty and break up their tete-a-tete. 

Steve was the one who leaned over the back of the couch this time. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to  _ work."  _

"No screens!" Bucky snapped from somewhere behind him. "I never need to see you upchucking strawberry ice cream again in my life, thank you very much."

"How did anyone ever entertain themselves before screens were invented?" Tony gave Steve a desperate look. For all that he was being annoying just to get attention, it really was miserable being laid up with nothing to do.

"I could read to you?" Steve offered, and Tony's heart skipped a beat.

"Um. Okay. That sounds… nice?"

Steve brightened. "I have a book I think you'll like. Snow Crash?"

"Oh, yeah. I've read it, but a long time ago. That sounds good, actually." Tony set his empty jello bowl aside and snuggled down further on the couch. When Steve returned with the book, instead of taking the armchair by Tony's head, he lifted Tony's feet carefully and slid underneath them. The angle was immediate relief for Tony's aching knees, and he groaned, letting his eyes fall shut.

"Hurts?" Steve asked, fear lacing through his voice, but Tony shook his head.

"Nope. It's perfect. Don't leave."

Steve chuckled softly. "Sure thing, Tony." He picked up the book and started to read.

In the end, Tony was glad he had read the book before. His attention was inconsistent and inconstant. Whole swathes of the book just disappeared in a blink as his brain failed to write the memory correctly, but Steve's warm, steady presence was unwavering. Mindlessly, Steve's thumb rubbed up and down the inside of Tony's right ankle, right where the top of his sock failed to meet his rucked up sweatpants. His voice was steady and calm, loud enough that Tony didn't have to strain, but soft enough that he was free to let a doze take him when it wanted.

The next thing he registered consciously was Steve saying, "No, don't. He's asleep."

"He's cold, Stevie." 

A heavy warmth rolled slowly over him, and he realized Bucky must have covered him with a blanket. The tension in his shoulders melted away, and he sunk deeper into the couch cushions. He wasn't awake, not really, but he couldn't quite find his way back into full sleep either.

"He always frowns in his sleep," Steve sighed.

"He's got too much to worry about." Something brushed softly over Tony's forehead - Bucky's fingers?

"We could tell him?" Steve offered, tension racketed his words tight and short. "Maybe it would be a good thing."

There was a long silence. "He lost six months, Steve. He's still back with Sunset, in his mind. We can't assume it would be a good thing."

"What if-?"

"I know," Bucky cut him off, clipped. "It's not - We just have to be here for him. Maybe he'll remember."

Steve sighed again. His thumb rubbed over Tony's ankle. "Yeah. I know."

Sleep finally won out.

**

"They're not telling me something," Tony told JARVIS. "It's driving me nuts. And the shitiest part is that I can't remember if they  _ have  _ told me and I went and forgot it again." He growled.

"Your performance on the short term memory and cognitive function tests are improving steadily, sir," JARVIS reminded him. "You are well on your way to recovery. I doubt you are losing large portions of time, anymore."

"Nah, you're right." Tony twizzled a pen between his fingers. "But it's not fair. Feeling like six months got swallowed and no one will tell me what went down. I remembered something yesterday, about the plant in the foyer, but nothing important. Nothing about them. Did something happen? Did I, like, forget their wedding or something?" The thought stirred a sharper pain in Tony's chest than he expected. Married. Maybe that was it. Maybe they got married, or maybe they were engaged. Even worse, if they didn't want to tell Tony again, it probably meant they knew how he felt about them. God, maybe he'd confessed his stupid crushes and they'd told him they were engaged. That sounded about right for his shitty life. "Fuck." He dropped his face in his hands.

It was harder when he was alone, that was the thing. He'd gone up to the penthouse for a shower - on his own, thank you very much, super-nosy-soldiers - but afterwards, instead of going back down to the common spaces or to Steve and Bucky's rooms, he'd curled up on the couch of his own living room. 

The cool air had quickly stolen the warmth from the shower, and he huddled himself in a blanket and pulled his face from his hands to stare listlessly out the window. He was feeling better, each day, but screens still made him dizzy, and going so long without decent distraction meant way too much time in his own head. 

"J," he finally had to ask, "did something happen? With them?"

JARVIS was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, his processors tasked with determining the best course of action. Tony hated putting him in a position to strain his CPU, but he couldn't leave this sitting any longer, and he didn't think the popsicle twins would tell him. "I can play you a recording," JARVIS said diplomatically, "of your own front hallway. Perhaps that would shed some light on the matter."

"Yes, please."

Tony felt more than saw a holoscreen pop to life behind him. There was a slight reflection in the window, but not enough to make it out. He closed his eyes and focused on what he could hear.

"-a really great time," Steve said, sounding almost... bashful?

"Me too," Bucky echoed.

Were the two of them hanging out outside of Tony's penthouse after a date? Why? Oh geez, were things awkward because they'd used Tony's apartment for unseemly couple things when he wasn't there? "When's this recording from?" he asked.

"Two days before your accident."

"We should do it again some time," a third voice added. Tony's voice. What? Do what?

"I'd like that," Steve said softly. "Tony, I -"

And here it was. It had to be. The awkward moment.

"I - I'd really like to kiss you."

Tony's eyes snapped open again. "What?" he asked the window.

"Really?" Tony's own voice replied, shaking with emotion.

Were they rehearsing a fucking play or something? Why the fuck would Steve say he wanted to kiss Tony when Bucky was  _ right there.  _ Unless he'd misheard? And Bucky wasn't there? There was a soft breath out on the recording, like two bodies shifting closer together, and Tony couldn't take it anymore. He spun around to face it and watched, in perfect HD, as his very own lips met Steve Rogers'. 

And Bucky was right there, watching,  _ smiling.  _ His fingers were wound in Steve's even as he kissed Tony and oh -

Then Steve shifted back and Bucky moved in, drawing Tony into a kiss of his own.

Oh.

Oh.

"Oh," Tony said out loud, as if this time the word might come with the clarity it implied. It did not. "Fuck." His head spun for reasons entirely unrelated to the concussion, and he twisted back around to sit hard on the sofa. But that didn't last long. 

He hobbled to his feet and grabbed the walker-robot J had constructed for him so he wouldn't have to use crutches. He made a beeline for the elevator - which was probably the most accurate beeline he'd ever taken, considering how slow and meandery bees actually were - and hit the button for Steve and Bucky's floor.

He stepped out to find them both on their living room couch, watching TV. The screen clicked off automatically when Tony entered the room. "What the fuck?" he told them matter-of-factly.

"Tony?" Steve jumped to his feet and launched halfway across the room, arms out as if to catch him, but Tony held out a finger to stop him a few feet away.

"What - and I can't stress this enough - the fuck?"

"What's wrong?" Bucky rose too, brows knit, cautious and concerned.

"Play it, J." The screen clicked on again, this time playing the same clip Tony had watched upstairs, and Tony kept his eyes fixed on the two men. Steve turned pinker and pinker as Bucky's jaw ratcheted tighter and tighter.

"Ah," Steve said, as his lips pressed against Tony's on screen. "Right."

"Tony -" Bucky started, cutting himself off with a soft sigh.

"What  _ happened?"  _ Tony asked, arms spreading wide and nearly toppling him off balance. He grabbed his walker-robot. "Were we sleeping together?"

"Not yet," Bucky said with a nervous smile. 

"That was two days before your accident," Steve said. "It was our first date."

_ "Our  _ first date?" Tony gestured between him and Steve.

Steve responded with a gesture that encompassed him and Tony  _ and  _ Bucky.

"Ah." That made more sense. "Date? Not…?"

Bucky took a few steps closer. "Date." He said firmly. "We asked you out. Because we wanted to start a relationship with you."

Steve's brow knit together. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you," he said softly. "We didn't know if it would stress you out or not. It was all so fresh, and you thought you were still with Sunset so we weren't sure if you'd be ready for the idea of starting something new. Besides, we'd only had the one date and even though you said you had a good time, we didn't want to put the idea in your head that we were all dating when we honestly didn't know if you meant it when you said we should have a second. We didn't know where it was going to go."

Bucky shuffled a little closer. "We were kind of hoping you'd remember your feelings on your own so we wouldn't have to tell you and possibly get them wrong. We wanted you to honestly want us, not just think you must want us because with different memories you were the sort of person to say yes to a date."

Tony's eyes flicked back and forth between them. "I hate that I find that kind of adorable cause you're both extremely dumb." Both mens' eyes went comically wide. "I've only lost six months, you ninnies. I've wanted you both a lot longer than that."

Bucky startled like a cat seeing a cucumber. "You  _ have?  _ But you were with Sunset."

"And you were with Steve," Tony retorted. "I didn't think it was an option. I would think you two, of all people, could understand that it's possible to have feelings for more than one person at a time." Tony dropped his gaze to the carpet. "Besides… not sure anyone misses Sunset being around."

Steve rumbled a soft growl. "No. Not really. And not just because we want you."

Tony took a deep breath and raised his eyes again. "You do?"

"We do." Bucky moved closer, coming up on Tony's right side. Steve leaned in towards Tony's left, and when he let go of the walker robot, they each took one of his hands to steady him. 

Tony let them take his weight. "Well, I can't promise I'll ever remember, but it does mean we can go on the same date for our second that we did for our first and I'll be just as impressed." He grinned, and the two men matched his smile, pressing in close until he felt safe and supported between them. "Though we might have to wait a bit until I can move at more than a snail's pace."

"How about we stay in?" Steve offered. "Movie you know well enough to watch with your eyes closed and popcorn? I'll make Buck do the stovetop one with the special yellow salt."

"I always seem to get in trouble when you volunteer me for things, Stevie," Bucky said, but he was already tipping Tony's weight gently towards Steve and making his way to the kitchen.

Tony shuffled over to the couch and set himself down with a groan of relief. He was healing, but healing was painful and itchy and sore. Steve settled close on his other side, and Tony wriggled around until he was leaning on his chest. Steve dropped his arm from the back of the couch to wrap around Tony, easily avoiding all the places that hurt - the power of a super soldier memory.

Tony closed his eyes and let himself sink down, resting for a moment. He breathed in, filling his lungs with a scent that was uniquely Steve, and there was a hint of something there, not quite a memory, not a full one with pictures and voices, but a sense-memory, an echo. Feeling and smelling Steve there around him felt like deja vu in the best possible way. It felt comfortable. It felt right.

And it only felt more right when Bucky settled on his other side, tucking up under his legs and dropping the popcorn bowl in his lap. Tony reached out to fiddle with the hem of his sleeve. "You know… it's not often a man gets to have his first kiss with someone for a second time."

Bucky smirked. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I feel like it might help jog something loose, you know? A reenactment." He let his tongue peek out between his teeth.

Bucky's eyes cut over Tony's head to meet Steve's and it didn't feel like being left out of something this time. Then Bucky leaned in, carefully bracing his weight on the edge of the couch by Tony's hip. "I think we can help you there," he whispered. He didn't kiss Tony, instead he just leaned in until the last inch was Tony's to take. He took it. 

Steve supported Tony from behind so he didn't have to strain his aching muscles holding himself up, and once Tony's lips brushed softly over Bucky's, Bucky leaned in closer, letting Tony relax against Steve's chest while Bucky kissed him silly. When his lips were warm and tingling, Bucky shifted away and Tony let his head fall back, turned towards Steve. Steve bent and followed after, softer, gentler, and so thorough that Tony's head spun. 

Tony's eyes fell closed again as Steve eased off, kissing Tony's cheek while Bucky nuzzled under his ear. "Well," Tony said, snuggling down in their warm holds. "This is a moment I'll never forget."


End file.
